Hooky Pop

Last night, Huck Slim played in Union Square as we are wont to do when the weather is nice. At one point, somebody came up to us to request something which happens sometimes. This man was missing a hand and had a hook instead. Which is unusual. He was drunk. Which isn’t. He wanted us to play some country music. Preferrably anything by Johnny Cash. We didn’t know anything off the top of our heads. Seeing Vince’s mando, he suggested bluegrass. We know 1 or 2 bluegrass tunes, so we launched into “The Old Homeplace”. I said to the guys afterwards that I never experienced pressure like that, trying to play a song right. You try playing something with a man with a hook for his hand not inches away from you, and drunk. That’s pressure! Did I mention he was scary too? Was it because he had a hook hand or because he was drunk? Maybe both.